Bubble Puppy
by DjDangerLove
Summary: Mike gets hurt. Harvey feels guilty. Friendship fic. No slash!


**I don't own Suits, but I do own a heart that loves it.**

"Oh Harvey?" Donna's cheery voice rang from the doorway to Harvey Specter's office. The resident of the office sat behind his desk, one arm laying loosely on the arm rest of his chair, while the other was propped up by his elbow so he could finger his chin as he pondered in his thoughts. His face was like a blank canvas with the plastic wrap still firmly in place so no one could ruin its perfection.

Donna stopped short in her tracks, though she made it to the front of his desk before she observed her _boss. _She let her mouth open slightly as she cocked her head to the side.

"What's wrong?" She asked, cautiously.

He blinked at her before readjusting his suit and sitting up a bit straighter. "Nothing." Harvey dismissed her question. She asked another one.

"Then why are you just sitting here?"

"I wasn't."

She rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. After walking swiftly around the desk, she sat down on top if and looked down at Harvey. She frowned a bit in sympathy, but then her face changed to perceptive.

"You should feel like shit right now."

"Excuse me?" Harvey raised an eyebrow, a small smirk displayed on his face out of surprise.

"You heard me." She tilted her head to the side in warning. "I don't feel the least bit of pity for you sitting here in your office, staring off into space, alone with your malicious thoughts." Her smile was slowly showing on her face.

"Damn. Here I was thinking you were going to hug me and tell me it's okay." Harvey sarcastically retorted, his face going indifferent.

"It isn't okay." She paused and watched the man look out the window. She looked at his reflection in the glass and for a humorous second, wondered what the janitor cleaned the windows with that could extract and display guilt on Harvey Specter's face.

She knew the real answer though. It didn't have anything to do with the janitor. It certainly didn't come from a cleaning bottle. The answer, the only thing in the world that could pull guilt from a soul surrounded by stone, came in the form of a human being. A person, a man reality had forced out at an early age, but in her eyes, along with the eyes that mattered most, a kid. It was a child carrying the weight of the world upon his thin, fragile shoulders, but supporting it with a heart bigger than himself, a heart that was constantly getting dented and scratched, but healthily kept beating despite the damage it took. The answer was Mike.

"But you can make it okay, again."

She watched the reflection in awe as the guilt washed away like footprints in the sand under the tide, no longer visible but had once been there making it's mark on the world.

The reflection disappeared as Harvey turned around to face her with his real face, the emotionless one.

"How?" He asked not parting his clenched teeth, his voice low, and if Donna wasn't afraid of being fired for recognizing it, she would have sworn it wavered.

"He once told you he needed you to trust him and that he would work as hard as he could for as long as it took, until that happened."

Harvey wasn't surprised that she had heard their conversation after Mike had smoked pot at the tennis club because of Louis, but he had yet to see the point in bringing it up.

"Harvey, I honestly don't know how you don't see how much blind faith Mike has in you."

Harvey's eyes shot up to meet Donna's yet he said nothing.

"He'd follow you anywhere you led him, even if it was to his own grave."

Harvey shook his head in disagreement, grimaced at the ironic analogy.

"He may not believe in all your tactics, but he believes in _you_."

The man made a disagreeing and uncomfortable noise this time.

"You really let him down, bruised his ability to trust you, but trust can be rebuilt. Mike can't."

Harvey stood up fast, looking her directly in the eye.

"I let him down? He was the one who went to Louis willingly. You want to give a speech about trust and loyalty, give it to the damn kid." Harvey wasn't shouting, his choice of words sounding angry, but his tone was defensive, almost guilty, but not quite.

"You were shutting him out, Harvey. You kept giving him busy work, just because of the mock trial. He wants to work, he wants to learn. He can't do that by sitting at his cubicle being picked on by all the other associates. Louis offered to let him sit in on a big case, so he took it. He didn't do anything wrong."

Harvey bit his bottom lip, but didn't have time to respond as Donna stood up.

"I told Mike you wanted to speak with him, he should be here any moment." She informed as she slipped out of his office and sat down at her desk. Harvey slowly sat back down in his chair after glaring at her for a long moment. He gave frustrated sigh, and continued to look out the window until Mike arrived.

"Donna said...you wanted to see me?" Mike's voice, now uncertain and cowardly, though he tried to hide it, came from the doorway.

Harvey swallowed and blinked slowly, before bracing himself for the sight that was about to greet him. He finally turned around in his chair. The squeak of his chair, making his associate flinch just a little. Harvey had to pull his mouth into a thin line to stop himself from frowning.

His associate stood by the door, that was now shut behind him, his right arm, broken in two places, was cradled next to his body in a sling as his legs shook as they struggled to hold up his weight.. His face was almost unrecognizable in the vast majority of bruises that covered his so-called 'soft features'. Unfortunately for Harvey, his eyes were not swollen shut, so he could still see the distrust shining brightly in blue orbs.

"Have a seat." Harvey offered, trying to sound gentle but even to Harvey it came out rough and caused another involuntary flinch from his associate.

Harvey watched Mike move slowly across the room so not to jar his bruised and cracked ribs and to remain steady. When Mike eased himself slowly into one of the chairs in Harvey's office, the older man stood from his desk and occupied the seat directly in front of Mike, only a table, distrust and silence separating them.

Harvey leaned forward, elbows on his knees, hands clasped together.

"Mike-" He began.

"Don't." Mike cut him off, closing his eyes for a second, then looked back at Harvey. "It wasn't your fault."

Silence fell over them again and after a few seconds, Harvey stood and walked over to the window. He put his hands in his pockets and stared down at the city, a sight that was much more desirable than his battered associate.

"I shouldn't have left you." Harvey said, after a long while. He heard a faint laugh, followed by a painful grunt.

"You didn't know this would happen." Mike responded, standing up slowly. Harvey turned around, after seeing his movements in the window, and watched him with a protective eye.

"You're right, but that doesn't change anything." Harvey stated, locking eyes with Mike for the first time in what felt like weeks, but had really been about four days.

"If you had known that I would have been mugged and almost beaten to death, would you have left me?" Mike asked, looking down at the floor, but decided he wanted to see the truth rather than hear it, so he looked back up at Harvey.

Harvey said nothing, as the guilt that was swirling around inside of him leaked onto his face. He bit his bottom lip as he shook his head slowly in a negative manner.

Mike swallowed, relief flooding through him. "That changes everything."

Harvey stared at him. He should have felt relieved too, but all he felt was anger. He had simply left the kid on the streets of a bad part of town, because the kid had done something for Louis that he specifically told him not to and Mike was just going to forgive him for it, just because he didn't mean for it to happen. He balled his fists.

"It changes nothing." Harvey stated once again as he turned back to the window.

"Why are you trying so hard to take the blame for this?" Mike asked, his voice rising a bit. Harvey turned around quick, raising his voice just above what Mike's had been.

"Why are you trying so hard to tell me it isn't?"

"Because it's not!" Mike yelled.

"It is!" Harvey yelled back, his face turning red.

"Harvey!" Mike shouted to get the older man's undivided attention. It worked and for a second Mike tried to take slow, steady breaths as his chest started burning. "I don't blame you, I - I can't blame you." His voice was quiet.

"What do you mean?" Harvey asked matching his associates volume.

Mike looked away, uncomfortable, almost embarrassed. "You're...the only person I have left... the only person I trust. I can't just...

"Donna was right." Harvey said after a moment. "You do have blind faith."

"No, I don't." Mike objected, shaking his head. "It's not blind."

The younger man eased himself down on the couch and closed his eyes.

"Have you taken your pain meds today?" Harvey asked, watching him with a careful eye. The younger man shook his head no.

The older layer walked to his desk and pushed the button on his phone.

"Donna, bring Mike his medicine."

A few minutes later, Mike felt a small nudge and he opened his eyes to see Harvey sitting beside him on the couch holding out a glass of water and two pills. Mike took the offered supplies.

He handed the glass back to Harvey, who was watching him protectively, and leaned his head back against the couch while closing his eyes.

"Harvey?" Mike's voice was already slurring.

"Yeah?"

"Will you do me a favor?"

"What?" Harvey asked, his voice heavy.

"Let's drop this." Mike said.

Harvey nodded. "Done."

"Good, but that wasn't my favor."

The older man laughed. "Well, what is it you want _master?" _

He saw a smile return to Mike's face and for a second it made the bruises disappear, but only for a second.

"Will you quit treating me like glass?" Mike asked, with a laugh. "I'm not fragile." Mike moved against the couch and winced. "Well, maybe right now I'm a little fragile."

Harvey raised an eyebrow at him. "Mike, you get into so much trouble that if you go on Donna's search engine on her computer, I'm sure you find the words 'bubble boy' on it."

"Okay, first he lived in that bubble because he was born without an immune system, and second-"

"I don't care what the second thing is. I didn't care about the first, either. My point is, somebody has to look out for the puppy around here, because-"

Mike cut him off. "Because you don't send a puppy to clean up his own mess."

"No." Harvey said. "Quit interrupting me, or your other arm will be in a sling. What I was going to say is that somebody has to look out for the puppy because the puppy shouldn't have to look after himself."

Mike opened his eyes slowly and rolled his head along the back of the couch to look at Harvey and stared at him.

"I know I'm staring at you like you have two heads and that's partially because right now you really do have two heads. I think I need different pain meds. The other reason is because you just admitted you care about me even though it was through one of your weird analogies."

Mike closed his eyes, with a smile on his face, but Harvey watched as it dropped in seconds as the kid succumbed to sleep. He patted the younger man;s knee gently, before standing up and making his way to Donna's desk.

"So, Donna? How much is a bubble?" He asked, knowing full well she had been listening to their conversation the entire time.

She smiled at him while leaning towards Harvey. "I think it would be better if you just watch out for him a little better. If he was in a bubble you wouldn't be able to kick his ass when he comes in late."

Harvey smirked. "You make an excellent point."

**AN: Another random one-shot...**


End file.
